Jonathan, I've just listened to you and, indeed, I listened happily  Well done. Good on you! Hope you were happy with it.  I'll return for the rest a little later.

Jonathan, I just had a listen and enjoyed it. Osborne is talking out of his pants - that piece benefits from a slightly luminous and watery atmosphere. Also, was that the complete piece? I certainly hadn't heard it before. It's very lovely.

Gosh thanks Martle!  Yes, it is the complete piece.  It was written in 1880 and so is late Liszt and, as you probably know, by that stage, he was fond of writing things that float off into the ether at the end!
Leslie Howard (obviously) recorded it for Hyperion's complete Liszt cycle - it's on Volume 11 (see http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//CDA66445.htm) for details!

Monteverdi, Second Vespers for the Feast of Santa Barbara reconstructed by Graham Dixon, and sung by The Sixteen Choir and Orchestra conducted by Harry Christophers

Until yesterday, I didn't realise that this was basically the Monteverdi Vespers only in a version that is possibly the forerunner of the 1610 publication (but in what little research I had time to do today, there seemed to be a lot of doubt over whether any of this was actually performed at Santa Barbara, since no copies survive in their library - maybe that's just an indication that I should do more research before showing my ignorance).

Anyway, I do love the Vespers and have been singing the opening Toccata all day.

Except, of course, that in this recording there's an opening organ preamble first...
[edit] That's not really clever pedantry, is it? It all depends on what you regard the opening of the work to be I suppose. BACK IN MY BOX. [/edit]

But, yes! It's also pretty good for kicking off another (not quite so) unique work... called Orfeo!

Of course the actual opening has to be a chap singing Deus in adiutorium meum intende doesn't it? Otherwise it's a bit like those Credos that begin "The Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth". Or those Glorias that begin "And on Earth peace to men of good will". (etc.)

Art-smarses.
I suppose it does depend how you define 'kicks off' though (and I did allude to this very quibble in my edit).
An incipit certainly begins a work, but does this kick the work off? Surely the only proper kick off is the Toccata, otherwise the ball won't travel very far...
 

NS: Torquato Tasso in the Music of his Contemporaries
Kühn Chamber Soloists, Symposium Musicum, Pavel Kühn (cond.)

Given how much I was looking forward to listening to this CD, I find myself rather disappointed.
Some of the sopranos seemed a little out of their depth (range wise...) but overall, it just felt a little bit too earnest.
I've been really enjoying the energy that comes across in recordings of a lot of music from this period, but I felt this programme worked better as a concept than as a listening experience.